


so much to see, so much to do.

by ivermectin



Series: yet another self-indulgent dan & nate raise milo verse [3]
Category: Gossip Girl (TV 2007)
Genre: Gen, Jealousy, POV Serena van der Woodsen, but also: Emotional Maturity, let us pretend i did not skew the canon timeline, mentions of derena kiss from s3 / infidelity, mentions of past derena & past serenate, our girl is back from Paris!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 08:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30036177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivermectin/pseuds/ivermectin
Summary: When Serena gets back from Paris, it’s to find, to her absolute surprise, Eric holding a baby in his arms, Tellytubbies on the television.
Relationships: Eric van der Woodsen & Serena van der Woodsen, Milo Humphrey & Eric van der Woodsen, Nate Archibald/Dan Humphrey (minor/background)
Series: yet another self-indulgent dan & nate raise milo verse [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2206962
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	so much to see, so much to do.

**Author's Note:**

> i actually am very proud of this fic! i usually find serena really difficult to write but that's getting easier.

When Serena gets back from Paris, it’s to find, to her absolute surprise, Eric holding a baby in his arms, Tellytubbies on the television.

Serena blinks. “Uh, hi?”

“Serena, you’re back!” Eric says, some undecipherable emotion flickering on his face. “How was Paris? Did you get the coming of age moment that you were hoping for, were the desserts good?”

“Never mind me,” Serena says, walking over to where Eric is and sitting adjacent to him. “Why are you holding a baby? Babysitting, I hope.”

“He’s not mine, if that’s what you’re asking,” Eric says, deadpan.

“Haha, very funny,” Serena says, rolling her eyes, but she can’t help smiling a little, anyway. She’s missed her brother.

“I’m doing a favour for a friend,” Eric says. “Serena, this is Milo. Milo, this is Serena.”

Milo does not seem particularly interested, he’s too busy staring at the Tellytubbies and fidgeting in Eric’s arms, one of his hands fiddling with Eric’s collar.

“Hi, Milo,” Serena tries, offering him a hand. Milo looks at her, finally, for a split second. His fingers curl around Serena’s finger, before he decides he’s bored of this, and lets go of her hand, looking at the television again.

“Okay, now that we all know each other, you’re yet to tell me how Paris was,” Eric says.

“It was really good,” Serena answers, “but I’m glad to be back home.” She spends a moment finger-coming her hair, looking in the mirror, tying it up, out of the way, and then walks towards the door.

“Where are you going, you just got back,” Eric says.

“Over to Brooklyn!” Serena grins. “I want to say hi to Dan.”

She closes the door and walks away, humming under her breath. She’s so quick to leave that she doesn’t hear Eric’s warning, muffled by the sound of the door closing, as he says, “Serena, wait!”

She doesn’t wait. She just goes.

*

Entering the Brooklyn loft is easy, she knows where Dan’s spare key is. She walks in, and the kitchen and living room and dining area are all entirely empty, but she can hear something from the direction of Dan’s room, and it sounds like Dan’s laughter; rough and uninhibited, warm and welcoming like coming home. Carefully, she walks towards the sound… and stops in her tracks. Because the door’s open and she can see them, but they haven’t seen her yet.

Dan’s lying in bed, and Nate’s lying next to him, barely any distance between their bodies. It doesn’t take a scientist to realise what they’ve been doing. She can see the expressions on both of their faces, and they’re looking at each other. It’s a tender moment, and she knows she isn’t supposed to be there, and it hurts, because –

Dan’s smiling, and that’s the smile he always gave Serena, gentle and slightly crooked, the sides of his eyes a little crinkled up, all easy warmth mixed in with wonder, like he’s captivated and in awe and just can’t keep the sheer delight off his face. And Nate, Nate, as well, has a smile Serena’s used to from him, something good humoured and incredulous almost, like he’s on the verge of laughter, a mischievous smile, a smile that says that he’s having fun, a smile that is gentle, as well, that only his best friends get, but paired with gravity, the intensity that is Nate taking romance seriously.

They look like they’re in love with each other, and Serena knows she has to leave, so she does, quiet and unnoticed, walking out of the loft quickly, as fast as she’d rushed over there in the first place. She doesn’t slow down until she’s reached a café in Brooklyn that she really likes (Dan used to take her here all the time, she wonders almost bitterly if he takes Nate here, now) and sat down, placed her order.

It’s creepy, she thinks, to be so haunted by an image of her ex-boyfriends. They’d looked like a painting, though, Dan’s stupid soccer sheets pooling around their bodies, the way both of them had glowed looking at each other; radiant, the way she could tell even from the hall that there was tenderness in their touches, that they really cared about each other. It was a soft and gentle scene. Serena wonders for a moment how they would handle the fallout if she’d taken a picture, if she’d sent it in to Gossip Girl, but she pushes that thought away. She’s not Georgina.

Her phone buzzes with a text from Blair. _Did you choose?_

She replies, _They chose first._ And then puts her phone away.

Her entire world is spinning out of flux, and she doesn’t know what to do. She considers texting Eric, but she doesn’t know if he knows about the Dan and Nate situation, and knows it’s not her place to tell. She drinks her coffee, gets up, walks out, not really sure where she’s going. She almost walks into Vanessa, who looks startled to see her.

They’re in Brooklyn, after all. It’s just Serena’s luck to bump into the only other person from here besides Dan whom she knows.

“Hi,” Serena says.

She’s expecting frostiness, some kind of ‘you kissed my boyfriend! you’re a slut’, or something worse, but Vanessa just gives her a neutral look, something that could be the beginnings of a smile on her face. “Hello. Fancy seeing you here.”

Serena considers small talk, but she doesn’t have the stomach for it right now. “You don’t hate me for what happened when you were in Haiti?”

Vanessa frowns for a moment, and then blinks. “Well, I mean. Dan was equally at fault, so it’d be immature of me to hold you entirely responsible.”

Serena takes a little breath. “I really am sorry,” she says.

“Hmm,” Vanessa says, and now she’s definitely smiling just a little. “I appreciate that.”

Serena nods at Vanessa, and is ready to walk away. But then, Vanessa’s hand grasps her elbow, and she says, “If you’re free and want to kill time, I have extra tickets to a film screening. Don’t get your hopes up, the guys are amateur, and it’s just in someone’s backyard, but it might be fun anyway?” and Vanessa must know that there’s only one possible response. Serena smiles at Vanessa, says yes.

**Author's Note:**

> as always! you know where to hit me up; @bisexualdanhumphrey on tumblr.  
> yes this is going the serenessa way, are you surprised? lmao.


End file.
